Structuring UK low budget films
Delivered by Executive Producer Alan Martin (Good Gate Media COO)
Alan Martin has over 30 years experience in the film business covering development, financing, production, sales and distribution and has been a Guest Lecturer in film finance at Exeter University for the past decade.
His career highlights include the acquisition and release of the cult hit Donnie Darko, which sold over 2.5M DVD's, advising investors on both Rocketman and Men in Black International as well as working with, amongst others, Studios, Mini Majors, BBC, Sky, Film 4, Hulu and Gold Circle Films (My Big Fat Greek Wedding.)
He is COO of Good Gate Media and an Associate Producer on their two latest productions, The Man in My Basement (Disney) and H is for Hawk (Film 4 and Brad Pitt's Plan B.)
Dates: 5 x sessions on Feb 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st and Mar 7th 2026
Saturday 9.30-12.30
- Last booking date: 3 February 2026
This programme provides a rigorous, end-to-end guide to building a compliant, investor-ready UK film finance structure—designed for producers who need clarity, legal security and practical tools rather than theory. Participants learn how to set up a production-specific Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that satisfies Companies House, HMRC and investor expectations, while retaining ownership and creative control. The curriculum cuts through the jargon to show how money can legitimately enter a film company—through debt, fiscal incentive, grant and equity—and what each route means for ownership, liability, backend shares and regulatory compliance.
A major focus is cost control and audit-readiness from day one. Filmmakers are shown how to structure budgets the way auditors, lenders and the BFI and other UK public funders expect: category coding, VAT handling, PAYE vs freelance compliance, and the software and documentation pipelines that keep productions ordered and efficient. This is paired with a deep, practical understanding of the UK’s Independent Film Tax Credit—the true fiscal value to a UK qualifying theatrical production, how lenders secure against it, how timelines affect cashflow, what counts as qualifying expenditure, how the cultural test is won or lost, and how to avoid the errors that stall or collapse claims.
Participants then learn to build finance plans that truly function in the low-budget space: positioning non-recourse loans without giving up equity, understanding recoupment waterfalls, structuring drawdowns, planning cashflow, and navigating FCA compliance, and the boundaries of legal financial promotion. The course makes explicit what investors look for, what they fear, and how producers can structure opportunities without breaching regulatory thresholds.
Finally, the programme turns to protection and clean closure: how to safeguard IP, manage risk, insure correctly, deliver on time, wind down an SPV without penalty, archive records, and report to investors with professional transparency.
Although the lecturers cannot provide direct financial or legal advice, they will share real world examples of good practice. The entire curriculum is taught by one of the UK’s leading specialists in low-budget finance structuring, supported by privileged access to legal, financial and tax-credit experts who rarely appear in open training environments. Their insight provides a strategic, real-world blueprint for producers who need to build films on tight budgets—securely, compliantly and with full control of their rights.
